Something has always fascinated me about North Korea. Such secrecy and mystery surrounding such a wide area and population is something I find immensely strange in the modern day. After watching videos and reports from reporters who have visited, it seems like a country stuck in the ideals of a medieval faction under the authority of a power thirsty monarch.
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| Kim Il-Sung |
The story of Korea started when the second world war ended and the Japanese occupation subsided. American troops moved in to occupy the south of the Peninsula, and Soviet troops occupied the north. Soon after, the Korean Workers Party (Communist Party) or the WPK was formed with Kim Il-Sung at the helm, a Red Army trained "leader of the people". In 1948 the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was formed and run by the WPK backed by Soviet Russia.
Not long after, in 1950, the beginning of what would become one of the fiercest military rivalries began when South Korea declared independence from the Republic. This sparked immediate invasion from the north. Since then, neither country has seen eye to eye.
Kim Il-Sung, the first leader of the WPK and People's Republic of Korea, is now depicted as a god like figure. Even though he died in 1994, he was later instated as Eternal President of the Republic. When he died it is said that a thousand cranes came down from the sky to fly him to heaven. When they arrived, they could not take him because they saw all the Korean people weeping (they always considered him a god due to the massive propaganda campaigns which still operate today). After 10 days they decided that his body and soul could rest in a monumental palace built on earth, where his body rests today. This story is told as fact to the people of North Korea, and with absolutely no chance of contact from the outside world, the only thing they can do is believe it.
The buck doesn't stop there when it comes to fairy-tale propaganda stories, North Korean "history" is full of them. At a certain memorial in the countryside dedicated to the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il-Sung, thousands of Swallows supposedly flocked to it on the day of his death and bowed their heads in unison.
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| Kim Jong-Il |
Sung had 6 known children, one of which is now the leader of the DPRK, Kin Jong-Il. On the day of his birth, an army regiment in the northern mountain range of North Korea sensed that something amazing was happening but they did not know what, so they carved some sacred words into a nearby tree (The tree later became a sort of sacred spot of pilgrimage for Koreans. But a few years ago, several Japanese scientists on a tour through North Korea (accompanied by North Korean guards obviously) stopped off at the site. One was a botanist and noted that the tree with the sacred scribbles was only 20 years old (Kim Jong-Il was born about 50 years before hand). He told the guard who was dumbfounded, and since then the tree has been cut down and the site inaccessible to ALL visitors). It is said that in a log cabin on the tallest mountain in North Korea, Kim Jong-Il was born, welcomed by a double rainbow and the appearance of a brand new star, the brightest in the sky. Again, people in Korea believe this. However, records show that Kim Jong-Il was actually born in Vyatskoye in Soviet Russia in 1941.
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| Pyongyang, Ghost Town |
Pyongyang, the capital, is now a city with buildings which scrape the sky. If you manage to get into North Korea, you will be shown around the place and you will stay in a large, multistory hotel there. You won't see anyone though, there's no one there. There are no cars, no food and no people. Massive buildings are standing tall all around, but no life. It's all just a ruse to convince the world of economic prosperity, and maintain public morale. In fact, you can only live in the city if you are "selected". That's right, you have to be tall, pretty, strictly not disabled, a supporter of the WPK (of which most people are anyway due to the propaganda) and if you are one of the few who are allowed to speak to foreigners (eye contact with foreigners is illegal) you must speak fluent English.
It's dangerous, barren, and run by a loony dictator. But something about it just makes me want to visit. My curiosity overcomes fear when it comes to North Korea. I cannot understand how this sort of thing still exists in the world today, at least not as obvious as is the case in North Korea. South Korea is one of the most developed countries in the world with the fastest internet connection per head anywhere on earth but the North Korean people are fed lies about it. They're told that in the South the living conditions are even worse than the North, that the people are animals. Tension is still rife between the two nations too, 2 million troops stand either side of the Demilitarization Zone buffer which separates the nations staring each other in the eye 24/7. It is considered one of the most dangerous places on earth.
I wonder what Kim Jong-Il is doing right now, this very moment... Is he reading this? If so, you're an idiot, everyone in the world thinks you are. Eventually it'll all fall don't you worry.
Over and out.
